In the previous group exhibition, entitled Escapism, we addressed the issue about the always more penetrating and totalitarian oppression and control exerted on the individual by the political and governmental system, which implements the old method of “carrot and stick” to forcedly push the masses. If the “stick” is oppression, TransHumance wants to investigate one of the brand new “carrots” that today the system of power tries to feed to peoples: the trivial benefits of a transition toward the digitalisation and the artificial sophistication of the person, as a prodrome of transhumanism, leading to epochal anthropological implications and prime philosophic and ethical dilemmas.

The transhumanism would be an ideology that, starting from the union between man and the robotic and/or computer machine into the so-called “singularity”, would shift mankind toward another phase, a goal: the post-humanism, that is an era where the natural human being will be outdated, extinct, evolved into something that will not be human any more, since the prefix post- itself always specify the end of an era, in this case of the human being.

The roads toward this transition are paved with promises: bodily, cognitive, computational and sensory improvement, immortality and eternal youth, the achievement of a superiority condition, of divine nature, up to become the One. But whether this is evolution, involution or extinction, in any case it would imply that we will be no more human beings.

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The advent of robotics, computer science, nano-technologies and bio-technologies is just the dawn of a revolution that is leading us to an evolutionary juncture, asking us to make an anthropological choice. It is up to us to use these technologies in favour of the human being, or let them be used on us by an emergent technocracy.

Right today, many people are even more transhuman of those pioneer artists of transhumanism. We observe many cases in the world of people who are satisfied with their courage for having surgically modified their own visage, sometimes in a repulsive way.
But the transhuman is even more spread among multitudes of people who are not accorgono di essere ormai scese lungo quel declivio di assuefazione e dipendenza tecnologica: non riescono più a vivere senza un telefono “intelligente” - vera e propria appendice cerebrale che precederà l’impianto di un microprocessore, - pensano di non avere alcun motivo di ricordare i numeri telefonici dei propri cari o amici, o a fare una moltiplicazione mentalmente, mentre delegano le proprie relazioni interpersonali a un’azienda di social-networking, con la quale sottoscrivono contratti senza averli mai letti semplicemente marcando una casella. Molti ormai vivono un’identità virtuale, fatta di narcisismo telematico e ritoccato, o presentandosi in rete come personificazioni di creature fantastiche, gli avatar, o di ciò che vorrebbero essere idealmente. È solo un gioco, certo, o un modo di esprimere i propri sogni, ma quello che si nota è che alcuni ormai non distinguono più la finzione dalla realtà, vivendo in una permanente frivolezza, in una bolla di sapone, che quando poi scoppia a contatto della realtà provoca dolore, repulsione e quindi aumenta il desiderio di fuggire ancora nel virtuale.
In effetti, non è tanto preoccupante la rapida evoluzione degli oggetti “intelligenti” o della cosiddetta Intelligenza Artificiale (AI, la quale non è altro che una simulazione, sempre dipendente da chi l’ha programmata per offrire risposte plausibili a velocità impressionanti, ma che non avrà mai una coscienza), bensì il progressivo assottigliamento delle capacità cognitive e di giudizio critico nelle persone che fanno ricorso alla tecnologia per evitare di sforzarsi, di pensare e di usare il ragionamento, preferendo affidarsi all’Oracolo elettronico, il deus ex machina dietro a cui si nasconde sempre un officiante occulto.

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The CON-TEMPORARY Art Observatorium exhibition room is located in the centre of Lavagna, in the midst of Riviera Ligure di Levante, northern Italy. The location is well serviced, a few steps from bus and railway stations, the touristic jetty, free 2h parking and near the highway exit. Access for impaired people and lift.

By foot, by train or bus: exiting the train station of Lavagna towards the city side, go to the left going along the main street until the Poste Italiane post office, here turn right toward Via Cristoforo Colombo street, as soon as you arrive at the roundabout of Piazza Cordeviola square turn left in Corso Buenos Aires boulevard. The building n. 42 is at the start of the boulevard.
Bus stop "Lavagna - P.za Cordeviola/Edicola" linee 704, 705, 731, 798, 846 and 934.

By boat: on the maritime line fares Portofino / Lavagna / Cinque Terre disembark at the touristic harbour of Lavagna. Exiting the harbour, turn left in Via dei Devoto street and go beyond the railway by the underpass that takes you to the Poste Italiane post office, then follow the directions above.

By car: toll road A12 E80 Genova-Livorno, exit at Lavagna, go toward the town centre. At the roundabout of Piazza Cordeviola turn right in Corso Buenos Aires and stop at the start of the boulevard, number 42 .

By airplane: the nearest airport is the Cristoforo Colombo in Genoa, the shuttle bus VOLABUS will take you to the train station of Genova Brignole, from there you can reach Lavagna in 40-60 minutes.